MARK Harper has defended Lewis Ferrell following the former Brentford defender's red card at Bromley last night.

The Hampton & Richmond Borough right-back was shown a second yellow for coming back onto the pitch following an injury without the ref's signal.

But even with 10 men, Hampton held on to win 2-1 for, thanks to a Joel Ledgister strike and an own-goal, moving them out of the Blue Square South drop zone.

Hampton boss Harper said: “It was a terrible decision by the ref. He put his arm up, and Lewis thought he was waving him back on. Only he will know if he was signalling for a free-kick instead. The sensible thing would have been to wave Lewis back off, take the free-kick, and wave him on again.”

The win followed Saturday's 2-0 home defeat to fellow strugglers Thurrock, which in turn followed an excellent win at Maidenhead, and Harper admits he feels like he's on a fairground ride.

He added: "It's like a roller-coaster ride at the moment. But at least we are staying in touch and not getting cast adrift. All we can do is concentrate on our results and not worry about what others are doing."